


The Man That Capture Thunder

by 3MarcMolin18



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Genius Tony Stark, M/M, Marvel Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 01:59:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3918640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3MarcMolin18/pseuds/3MarcMolin18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Human and Gods all do stupid things.<br/>It might be a little confusing at first but trust me you will want to see this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Man That Capture Thunder

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [捕捉雷电之人](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/114403) by 爱此清凉窟. 



1\. Benjamin Franklin

Tony Stark was suffering from the seasonal allergic rhinitis, and kept sneezing for the whole 24 hours. He was unwilling to see the doctor and insisted that he prescribe for himself, which resulted into his not-getting-better symptom and running nose. Looking at the pitiful look on his face, Thor agreed to help him with his experiment.

But before the experiment, they had something else to do. Stark requested Thor to go to Philadelphia with him first: to see a painting in the museum.

“Is this important?” Thor asked, confused.

“Very.” Tony said in a serious manner. And he insisted that he flew there with Thor in his armor. “It’s less than 160 miles from here; we will be there in a second.”

Thor looked at Stark’s red nose worriedly, while his iron friend was still mumbling things, pulling a tissue. “But you’ve been unwell, friend of mine. Since it’s only a short distance, I can bring you there with me.”

“What? No.” Tony answered stubbornly. “If I’m not going there by myself, then all of this lost its meaning.”

When the night fell, they were flying to Pennsylvania together, across the scattered cities in flickering light and the serene fields. The highway built by human beings was guiding them like a band of light. Thor could hear that Tony was unable to stop groaning and sneezing , sniffing and blowing his nose all the time in his armor. He didn’t know how Stark managed to do that, maybe the Man of Iron’s amazing faceplate had a function to wipe his nose.

They landed outside the Philadelphia Museum, causing a huge crowd of people with their phones to watch and scream; but Tony produced the VIP certificate, therefore blocking the curious crowd outside.

They walked into the museum, and were surrounded by silence; the great masterpieces of predecessors gazed at the dark corridor that both human beings and gods had walked through. There was light on only one piece of art, the one that Tony insisted that Thor should see it. On the painting sits a fat and bald old man, eyeing the sky; there are also some short and fubsy man, and one of them is holding a long string, with a key tied to its end. The old man is touching the key; there is something like sparks between them.

Thor stared at the painting for a while, puzzled. “Who is this?” he asked.

“Benjamin Franklin,” Tony answered and then sneezed, “You have seen him on the dollar.”

Thor tried to recall for a while—this name was familiar to him, Cap must have told him this name before. Then he remembered. “He’s one of those who founded your state.” He said.

“Exactly.” Tony said.

“Then he must be a man of noble.”

“He was a greedy and parsimonious man, had no shame at all and loved to lie.” Tony said, “He was a great man.”

“I do not understand.”

“You will.”

“Does he have anything to do with our experiment?”

Tony smiled. “I will do something that he had done.” He pointed to the painting.

 

2\. Electricity, our friend

They left the city and away from the highway, heading to the place that Tony Stark had chosen: a desolate field in the outer suburbs of Philadelphia. They were walking, side by side; all the noise of the city: the sound of cars and the flicker of lights, were sinking into the dark night. That was a comfortable warm night, and Thor could hear the shiver of wind in the low but flourishing hemlock grove. Except that, all is silent.

Tony Stark blurted when they were halfway there.

“This might be a little brusque,” He said, “so if you are offended, just ignore it. Have you done something stupid in your childhood, so stupid that you wish that you can go back and mock yourself at that time?”

Thor couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ve done too many stupid things.” He admitted, “I am still doing it until not long ago.”

“Then just tell me about the most stupid one.”

“Aye.” Thor mused, “In my childhood, Loki and I once sneaked out into the Nornheim to have some fun, and we found a wounded fox there. So we brought the fox back to the palace, healed his wound, fed him, named him “Alfr”, and played with him all days long. I really fancied him, and so did Loki. But one day Alfr suddenly fell to the ground, seemed to be suffering from great pain. I thought that he was ill, so I hurried to my father, praying that my father would heal him. I was fully prepared, that if I had to cut off Hela’s head to have him healed, I would go for it right away.”

“Huh. And then?”

“My father gave Alfr an examination, and then told me that he was not ill; he was old.” Thor said, “He companied Loki and I for ten years. Ten years was just an instant to us, but to him that was his whole life. However, I was unaware of that.”

Tony stayed in silence for a while, and Thor could imagine that he grimaced in his armor. “And then?”

“Alfr died soon after. I held him in my arms and burst into tears.”

“Fine. This doesn’t sound ridiculous.” Tony said, “Why do you think it’s stupid?”

Thor wanted to answer, but by that time they had arrived at the destination. The countryside surrounded by Cotoneaster dielsianus and taxad was placid in the dim light of night, and warm breeze was blowing through the forest gently. Tony took off the faceplate and shot a look at the sky. “Cloudless.” He cheered, his face illuminated by the twinkling stars in the sky. He took off his armor.

“You haven’t told me about the experiment.” Thor said.

Tony took a deep breath.

“The man you saw in the painting did something wonderful two hundred years ago.” He said, his voice muffled by his running nose, “In the July of that year, before the storm came, Franklin prepared a kite made of silk, went out into the field and flew the kite high enough to approach the thundercloud. When the lightning hit the kite, he reached out his knuckle to the key, and he felt sparks. That’s the story of the painting you saw.”

Thor looked at Tony in surprise. “But that can’t be real.” He said, “He was just a mortal. If he approached thunder like this, thunderbolts would go through his body and hit his heart, and he would die instantly.” He knew by heart how his weapon worked on enemies.

“You are getting to the point, big guy.” Tony said, “Of course this story was not true. He might had done that experiment, but he didn’t touch the key at least. There was a Russian scientist who did the experiment after him, and he was electrocuted to coke and died right away, just like you said. Franklin was bragging. Remember I said? He loved to brag, and this was just one of his lies. I know this was nonsense since I was six. So I invented an insulation device with a Magneto Ohmmeter and ran out in a thunderstorm, wanted to prove that if someone did that, the electricity that went through the body would burn a hundred Franklin to dead. Of course, I didn’t succeed. I had hardly run out of our yard when my father saw me in his lab. He caught me back. He rebuked me for being a fool.”

“He was worried about your safety.”

Tony shrugged. “He said, ‘Have you considered of the step voltage?’. So, this was the most stupid thing I had ever done when I was little. But I resent Benjamin Franklin for this.”

“But that Franklin,” Thor said, “Why did he do that?”

Tony didn’t answer. He took out a marker-size silver awl from his pocket and touched its top, then a narrow metallic frame hidden inside spread out like an umbrella. The frame reached the size of a small desk, and there was a thin film covered on it. Then Tony pulled out a long string from the silver awl.

“I made a kite, and I call it ‘Franklin I’.” Tony said, complacent. “It is actually a lightning electric field changing meter, and its precision is above all devices exist. You can use it to collect the lightning transient electrical signals and measure the strength of lightning electromagnetic pulse.”

Now Thor knew what Tony•suffering from serious rhinitis•Stark was doing in his lab these days. “You want me to craft the thunder to hit your kite, just as what Franklin had done.” He said, “Why?”

“I have my reason, just do it.” Tony said, sneezed again, Thor frowned at him.

Tony’s lips quirked up. “You needn’t worry about my safety.” He said, and Thor noticed that he was wearing a black tight tops, showing the curves of his not so strong body. “I improved my device. Now this clothing has many new techs inside, I made an effort. It’s all basic physics, no big deal, but it will prevent me from being directly hit by the thunder, reduce the risk to nearly zero.”

“Nearly zero doesn’t equal to zero.”

“Who taught you this, Banner?” Tony said, “If there’s no risk, then it won’t be an experiment. Especially not my experiment.”

“I cannot do this.” Thor couldn’t help but say it; after all, his thunder was meant to kill people. Considering of the remote possibility made his hair on the back rose. “And I don’t know what is the meaning of all this.” 

Tony lowered the kite and gazed at him seriously.

“Franklin might had never done this experiment, so I am indeed doing stupid things now.” He said, “But sometime people have to do stupid things over and over again. Believe it or not, all the successes that human beings accomplished are the result of the endless repeat of stupid things. I guess gods won’t understand it; you probably won’t do a stupid thing twice. But that’s all the meaning: If you don’t let me do stupid things, I’ll die. And that’s more painful than being electrocuted to death.”

Thor glared at him.

“Count this as my pleading.” Tony said, paused to think, “And I promise not to die. Remember we met for the first time in that forest? You didn’t kill me at that time, so you will not kill me now, either.”

Thor looked up to the boundless sky. The stars were twinkling in the serene and beautiful night.

“Fine.” He said at last, “If you say so, Stark. But there is one thing you should know.”

“Yes?”

“You think that gods won’t do a stupid thing twice. You think wrong.”

Thor flew to the sky, left Tony alone to consider what it means.

 

3\. In a heartbeat

In mid-air, the thunder god was riding on the night wind. He closed his eyes and held up the Mjölnir, calling his subjects in the air of Midgard. He called the dirt, ice crystals and water drops, ordering them to gather; he called the wind, ordering the current with moisture in it to worship. They surged toward him like the rivers, rubbing against each other, and electric ions collided with each other. Clouds formed above his head, and soon it converted into a vortex splendid as a nebula. The tumbling gross clouds covered the starry sky, burdened by the abundant water and electric; and there’s lightning of looming blue sparkling inside, illuminating the darkness. Trees were swaying in the wild wind, threatened, and bowing before the mighty god.

Now Thor looked down; he saw Tony standing on the ground with the kite in his hand and looking up at him. He seemed excited, itching to try and showing no fear at all.

Thor knew that, today, Tony Stark would not die. But, just as what Loki had told him before: today, tomorrow, or hundreds years from now, what’s the difference.

To Thor they all perish in a heartbeat.

 

4\. Playing with the lightning

After Alfr died, Thor had been involved in a close relationship with various creatures from different places in the nine realms; but compared with Asgardians, every creature in this world is short-lived. Loki is clever; he never fight a losing battle. He had learned the lesson once—he cried before the grave of Alfr, so he would never pet a fox again. But Thor would. His goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr always died growing old, but he always pet new ones, so that there were rumors that the sheep owned by the Asgard Prince can reborn. When he was elder and went to the nine realms to seek adventures, he started to make friend with elves, dwarves and humans; when he was reached his puberty, he started to fell in love with some of them again and again, but all the relationships ended by the other’s early death.

When every life, friend and lover of his died, Thor would grieve. He cried when he was young; he mourned after grown up. He had no way to end this, for his love starts quick, just in a heartbeat; but it dies slowly, and that resulted in his irritable and impatient temper.

Loki mocked over his behavior, saying that he would never learn a lesson: If life is short and written in water, then he should never approach and fancy those short-lived mortals. The reason this was his most stupid behavior was that he kept doing this over and over. He couldn’t stop himself; although this hurt him, he would still do it anyway. “Why?” Loki had asked, and he had asked himself. He couldn’t find the answer when he was young.

The shout from Tony Stark pulled him back to reality. “It’s time,” Stark stood on the ground, shouting at him in the wild wind and waving at him. “Show me what you can do!”

The thunder god looked down, and for a moment the lightning had illuminated Stark’s face; this human was tiny and vulnerable, his life not worth to be mentioned.

He growled, his hammer pointing at the ground. The thunder, guided by his body, rushed at Tony Stark and his Franklin kite in an inestimable power.

The electricity hit the kite, and the bright sparks went straight down along the wet string, bursting on Tony Stark’s fingertips. For a short moment, Tony Stark’s figure looked like it had frozen in the electricity, and that made Thor nearly stopped breathing; but in the next moment, Tony Stark laughed out loud, with his hand holding the kite string and his body sparkling in the lightning, like a miracle. He seemed to be playing with the thunder, so that was also the laugh of a six years old boy, and even the rumbling thunder and whirring wind couldn’t cover it up.

Didn’t know why, but Thor found himself also laughing aloud.

 

5\. The thunder of heaven and the thunder on earth

On their way home, Tony didn’t speak a lot, for he was busy calculating the data he got today. He mentioned a lot of words, Optical isolator, the transient electric field, inverse transformation, none of those Thor understood, but that was not important. “Are you pleased?” When they finally landed on the balcony of the Avengers Tower, it was already dawn. Thor asked Tony, who was taking off his armor, exhausted from the earlier excitement.

“What? Yes,” Tony said, “I got the data I want.”

“But that was not just for data.” Thor said.

“Of course not.” Tony said, paused, and suddenly yelled as if he had just found a surprise. “Hey, I’m not sneezing any more, and my nose is not running either. Do you notice? My rhinitis is cured. My therapy works.”

Thor waited for him to end his announcement patiently. Tony noticed, so he turned to face the thunder god.

“See,” He said, “Human beings were once suffering from an incurable disease, which name is fear. We feared anything that is unknown, anything that we were unable to deal with. So, we were afraid of the rhinitis that kept us sneezing, and of course we were afraid of thunder, because we did not know what it is and could do nothing to what it results to. Two hundred years ago, people had already known what electricity is, but still they called thunder ‘the fire of god’, and were afraid of it. And Franklin, as you said, was just a mortal, an old lying braggart, but he did great things. He did the Electrical Experiment, held up iron beams to lead thunder into houses; he found out that electricity and thunder is the same thing, so that people would not beg for god’s mercy. He tamed the thunder, so he was a great man.”

“So, are you going to tame me as well, Tony Stark?” Thor smiled.

Tony shook his head.

“No.” He said, “You see, I have to admit that I cannot find a reasonable answer to most things of you. But when you are flying on the sky with your magic hammer, I can also fly in the armor that I built myself, right next to you and at the same pace. I cure my rhinitis by medicine but not praying. On my own, I can calculate your electric field and measure the strength of the electromagnetic pulse you made. You are powerful, man, people say that you are a god and you might really are. I am just a human being and to you I’m not even worth of mentioning. But I have no fear of you.” He stepped towards and gazed into Thor’s eyes, as if he was really fighting against the mighty Asgardian god, “I am not afraid of you, Thor.”

He reached out his hand and pointed at Thor’s chest, “Because the thunder of heaven is equal to the thunder on earth.”

The power of thunder must be still remaining in his body. Because at that moment, Thor thought there was a thunderbolt that went from Tony’s fingertip and into his body, going back to his heart that made him miss a heartbeat.

Thor stared into the bright brown eyes of Tony, this arrogant, proud, stupid and courageous mortal that boasts all the time. His indestructible pride as a human will, as his short life, perish in a second. Just as what Loki had mocked before: today, tomorrow, or hundreds of years, there’s no difference. To Thor they all perish in a heartbeat.

But he cannot stop himself, and he was already in love.

 

6\. The king of the fleeting

If Loki was still alive—ah, he was always right—he would mock Thor again for doing stupid things again. But now Thor had known that it is destined in fate.

Human is changeable, and it is their charm; god is not, for his nature will decide his behavior. And he, he was the king of thunder; thunder is fleeting on the sky, so he is the king of the fleeting. Thus, he will love all the things that are written in the water; even he is destined to be heartbroken in the future, he could not control his love, just as if he could not control his desire and grief. This is the unavoidable nature of his.

And he could only do one thing about that.

 

7\. The foolish

Tony was already at the door by that time and was turning to see why Thor stopped walking. He was confused when he saw a smile appearing on the thunder god’s face. “You have any objections to my argument?” This contemporary Benjamin Franklin asked, frowned.

“No.” Thor said in pleasure; the thunder of heaven is equal to the thunder on earth, he agreed on that.

But the love of heaven is also equal to the love on earth. He would prove this to the Man of Iron sooner or later.

He thought, and strode towards his destined heartbreak.

END.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is a translation! English is not my first language so......if you see anything wrong, please tell me:)  
>  And please leave some comments if you like it!


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